Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential nominee Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said her China policy remains open, but stressed that the final formulation of the policy lies in the hands of the Taiwanese.
Tsai made the comment during a speech titled “Taiwan: Policy Challenge, Choices, and Leadership in the Next Decade” at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University. Her speech drew a crowd of 300, and hundreds of would-be listeners were turned away because the capacity had been reached.
In response to a question raised by a Chinese student from the audience on whether a democratization of China would let the people of Taiwan empathize with China and pave the way for future unification, Tsai said that the people of Taiwan would be more at ease if China embraced democracy.
Tsai said that while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would -occasionally mention that relations between Taiwan and China are to be decided by Taiwanese, they seldom say this.
Tsai said the US and Taiwan share the value of democracy.
Saying that the relationship between Taiwan and China would become closer when they shared more characteristics, Tsai said China must develop the same norms and values as the rest of world to help deepen the development of cross-strait relations.
The DPP’s cross-strait policy maintains stability and peace in the region because such stability is beneficial to the US, China and Taiwan, Tsai said, adding that because China was also part of the international market, Taiwan needs to normalize economic and trade relationships across the Taiwan Strait.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign director King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) also delivered a speech at Harvard Kennedy School of Government on Thursday.
Titled “Standing at the Crossroads: Taiwan’s Future and Its Relations with Mainland China,” King promoted the so-called “1992 consensus” as a solid foundation for reconciliation across the Taiwan Strait, and promised that Ma and the KMT would seek peaceful cross-strait relations.
Taiwan’s relations with China, King said, would be more peaceful and stable under the Ma administration because the government would continue its efforts to push for peace across the Taiwan Strait while prioritizing Taiwan’s interests.
“Stable cross-strait relations, however, are not unshakable. Stability across the Taiwan Strait will be affected and threatened if anyone resorted to empty and impractical measures in handling cross-strait relations,” he said.
King accused Tsai of creating an obstacle for the DPP to handle cross-strait relations and develop relations with China by denying the existence of the “1992 consensus,” and he dismissed her “Taiwan consensus” concept as empty rhetoric.
Additional reporting by CNA
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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